This is when Ontario will lift its remaining COVID-19 restrictions

The Ontario government has unveiled its timeline for lifting all remaining COVID-19 restrictions and policies. The move comes two years into a pandemic that has resulted in the death of more than 12,000 Ontarians and has dramatically upended life in the province.

Here are the highlights:

March 14 – Mandatory vaccination policies end

• The mandatory vaccination policy for employees in long-term care homes is lifted.
• A directive requiring that unvaccinated workers in hospitals and other high-risk healthcare settings partake in a regular rapid testing program is lifted.
• Letters of instruction to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services and the Ministry of Seniors and Accessibility are revoked. This will mean that those sectors will no longer be required to have vaccination policies that, at a minimum, require unvaccinated workers to partake in an educational course on the benefits of vaccination.

March 21 – Most mask requirements lifted

• Masking requirements will be removed in most settings, except public transit, long-term care and retirement homes, health-care settings, congregate care settings, shelters and jails.
• Remaining measures in schools, including cohorting ands on-site symptom screening, are removed.
• Remaining regulatory requirements for businesses are removed, including passive screening and the need to have a COVID-19 safety plan.

March 28 – Reopening Ontario Act expires

• The Reopening Ontario Act expires but the remaining orders associated with the act are extended for 30 days

April 27 – All remaining mask requirements are lifted

• Mask requirements are removed in all remaining settings
• All remaining orders under the Reopening Ontario Act expire
• Remaining health-care directives are lifted, including one legally requiring that health-care workers interacting with suspected COVID-19 patients wear a well-fitted N95 mask. The Ministry of Health will, however, still direct health-care workers to wear personal protective equipment, likely still including N95 masks.